Thursday December 13th, 2007 @ 7:33 PM

Two days ago, I stretched my lobes from 12g to 10g, using an acrylic taper. I wore the taper in my ears for a day and a half, and took them out last night to clean my ears and check on them. When I took them out, they started to bleed a bit, so I cleaned them off, oiled them up, and replaced the tapers (they didn’t bleed when I stretched them, just stung a little bit. This afternoon, I got stainless steel plugs to replace the tapers, and when I took the tapers out again, they bled a little again.

Is this normal? Could it be because of the acrylic material of the plugs I’d worn for 2 days?

Just for reference, I’d had my ears at 12g for about 3 weeks before I stretched up, and the 10’s slid in pretty easily, with just a little pressure needed to get them in.

Sounds like it can be a result of two things:

1) Stretched too fast and tore some fistula tissue

2) Irritation from the acrylic tapers.

Know that waiting 3 weeks before stretching is not always the best option. If there was pressure, even the slightest, you forced the jewelry through.

You’re best option right now would be to do leave the steel plugs in and do sea salt soaks daily, essentially treat your stretched lobes like they are fresh piercings. From there wait roughly 6 months to a year before stretching to the next size.

Patience is a virtue that is strongly required when stretching ear lobes…The more you force your lobes to larger sizes, the more problems you risk putting yourself into…